Bell.



No. 679,659.- Patented July 30, l90l.

D. P. WOLHAUPTER.

BELL.

Application filed. Mar. 23, 1901.) (No Model.)

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

DAVID P. WOLHAUPTER, OF WASHINGTON, DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA.

BELL.

SPECIFICATION formingpart of Letters Patent No. 679,659, dated July 30, 1901.

Application filed March 23, 1901. Serial No. 52,579. (No Infidel.)

T0 on whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, DAVID P. WOLHAUPTER, a citizen of the United States, residing at Washington,in the District of Columbia, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Bells; and I do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same.

This invention relates to bells, and has special reference to that type of bells designed to be brought into action by contact with a moving part of the vehicle, such as the tire of the wheel, such bells being largely designed for use in connection with bicycles.

To this end the invention contemplates improved means for mounting and hanging the bell in an attractive and out-of-the-Way position, besides so arranging the parts as to pro vide for throwing the bell in and out of action by a minimum movement thereof.

Another object of the invention is to so arrange the bell with reference to its support as to provide a minimum number of operating parts and also to provide means whereby the bell proper or gong may be hung in a pendent or upright position alongside the vehiclewheel in very close proximity thereto, while at the same time being so mounted that the gong will move out and away from the wheel when the bell is brought into action.

A further object of the invention is to provide a construction admitting of the employment of a plurality of gongs in connection with the tiltable support for securing the results above stated.

With these and many other objects in View, which will more readily appear as the nature of the invention is better understood, the same consists in the novel construction, combination, and arrangement of parts hereinafter more fully described, illustrated, and claimed.

The essential features of the invention providing for carrying out the objects specified are necessarily susceptible to embodiment in a variety of difierent constructions involving difierent structural details; but practical embodiments of the invention are shown in the accompanying drawings, in which- Figure 1 is a perspective view of a portion of a bicycle equipped with a continuous-alarm bell mounted for operation in the manner contemplated by the present invention. Fig." 2 is a vertical sectional view of the bell. Fig. 3 is a transverse sectional view illustrating the tilting movement of the gong upon a horizontal axis at a right angle to the axis of the striker or operating-shaft. Fig. 4 is a detail in perspective of the bell-support, consisting of the attaching-clip and the laterally-tiltable carrying-bracket. Fig. 5 is a perspective view of a modified form of the bell, involving the employment of a pair of gongs supported by the same carrying-bracket. Fig. 6 is a Vertical sectional view of the form of bell shown in Fig. 5. Fig. 7 is a sectional view of another modification, showing another form of striker that may be utilized in carrying out the invention.

Like numerals of reference designate corresponding parts in each of the figures of the drawings.

In carrying out the present invention it is not material as to the particular type of gong or striker that may be employed, although for illustrative purposes in the principal views of the drawings there is shown aform of gong and striker similar to the construction disclosed in my former patent, No. 609,983, dated August 30, 1898; but in all aspects of the invention it is the purpose to provide for hanging the gong in an upright position alongside of and in close proximity to the wheel of the bicycle or other vehicle, also to mount the gong so that the same will tilt upon a horizontal axis at substantially right angles to the axis of the striker or operating-shaft.

With these essential features of the invention in mind particular reference may be made to the drawings, in which the numeral 1 designates'the gong, which may be of the cross-sectionally-polygonal shape, such as contemplated by my former patent aforesaid, and with which cooperates the rotatable striker 2, essentially consisting of a spring= arm carrying at one end a clapper 3, adapted to engage each of the striking-faces of the gong in succession as the spring-arm is rotated within the gong. This is the broad idea underlying the invention set forth in my other patent; but in the present invention difierent forms of gongs and strikers may be utilized without departing from the spirit or scope thereofsuch,for example,as the modification shown in Fig. 7 of the drawings, in which modification the gong 1 is illustrated as being provided at the inner side thereof and within its mouth with a strike-lug 4, adapted to be engaged by the loose hammer or roller 5, carried at one end of the rotatable striker arm 2. This striking mechanism (shown in Fig. 7) is an obvious modification of the novel arrangement of parts disclosed in Fig. 2 of the drawings, inasmuch as it is very common in the ordinary bicycle-bells to provide the gong with a lug hit or struck by a loose hammer thrown outwardly by centrifugal force as the support for the hammer rotates within the gong. Anysuch expediehts may be employed in the present invention, providing that the striker includes a rotatable arm having a complete circular movement inside of the gong, and which arm is carried by a short operating-shaft 6, journaled in a bearing-sleeve 7, suitably provided centrally at the crown of the gong. This sleeve may either be an integral part of the gong or a separate piece suitably and rigidly united thereto, and at the upper end of the sleeve, exterior thereto and exterior to the gong, the shaft 6 has suitably fitted thereto an operating-wheel 8, adapted to loosely ongage with the rim or tire of the vehicle-wheel to provide for transferring its motion to the shaft 6 and the rotatable striker carried thereby.

As already stated, an important feature of the invention resides in the novel manner of hanging the bell. In a broad aspect the hanging fixture for the bell comprises an attaching-clip 9 and a swinging or tiltable carrying-bracket 10, having a pivotal connection 11 to the clip and rigidly connected with the gong at or contiguous to its crown, said pivotal connection being disposed approximately in a horizontal plane with reference to the pendent position of the gong and at a right angle to the axis of rotation of the striker or operatingshaft. By reason of this construction the gong may be hung in an upright position alongside of and in close proximity to the wheel, and when the carryingbracket is tilted laterally on its horizontal axis the gong is also necessarily tilted to an oblique position, which carries the operatingwheel 8 against the bicycle-wheel and at the same time throws the gong out from the wheel. So long as these essential features are preserved various forms of carryingbrackets and attaching-clips 9 may be employed; but a simple construction is shown in the drawings, in which, the clip 9 is illustrated as being in the form of a fork-clamp for engagement with one of the front-fork bars of the bicycle-frame, said fork-clamp comprising a pair of reversely-bowed plates 12 and 13, one of said plates being constructed at the front end thereof with the laterally-oifset pivot-ear 14, receiving the pivot for pivotally uniting thereto one end portion of the tiltable carrying-bracket 10, and said ear 14 is preferably provided with a stop-lug 15, which serves to arrest the carrying-bracket 10 when returned to an upright normal position through the medium of the coiled return-spring 16, conveniently coiled about the pivot 11 and having its extremities respectively engaged with the bracket 10 and the stop-lug 15. The tension of this spring is exerted in such a direction that when the bracket 10 is tilted to carry the operating-wheel 8 against the bicycle-wheel immediately upon the release of pressure from the carrying-bracketsaid spring will promptly return the parts to their normal upright po' sitions. The said spring also obviates rattling.

In the construction of the carrying-bracket 10 it is preferable to provide the same with a 1aterally-extending pull-arm 17, disposed below the pivot 11, and to which is connected the pull-cord or connection 18, which is under the control of the rider and is adapted to be drawn upon when it is desired to tilt the bell into action. Other expedients may necessarily be resorted to for tilting the bracket and bell carried thereby. The end of the bracket opposite its pivotal support may be upset, clamped, or in any other suitable way rigidly attached to the gong at or contiguous to the crown thereof, so that the gong will hang in a pendent position entirely below said bracket.

A very useful modification of the bell is shown in Figs. 5 and G of the drawings. In this modification the carrying-bracket (designated by 10) is provided below the pivotal connection 11 with a lower bracket-arm 19, to which is rigidly fastened by a screw or other fastening an inverted or upturned gong 21, arranged in complementary relation to the upper gong 1, so that the two gongs will be disposed mouth to mouth and in slightlyspaced relation, and to provide for simultaneously sounding both gongs a rotatable U- shaped spring-striker 22 is fitted to the operating-shaft 6 and is provided with the separately oppositely arranged strikerarms 23 and 24, respectively, of different lengths, the arm 24 being longer than the arm 23 and reaching into the mouth of the lower gong 21. In other respects the action of the bell is precisely the same as already described; but it should be noted that by making the upper and lower gongs of different sizes a chime eifect may be produced.

Other modifications will readily suggest themselves, and it will be understood that various changes in the form, proportion, and minor details of construction may be resorted to without departing from the spirit or sacrificing any of the advantages of the invention.

Having thus described the invention, what is claimed as new, and desired to be secured by Letters Potent, is-

1. In a bell of the class described, a laterally-tiltable support, an upright gong pendent from said support, and adapted to hang alongside of and in close proximity to the wheel of the vehicle, and a rotatable striker working withinv the gong and carrying an operating-wheel exterior to the gong at the top thereof.

2. In a bell of the class described, a laterall y-tiltable normally upright support, an upright gong pendent from said support and adapted to hang alongside of the wheel of the vehicle, a rotatable striker working within the gong and carrying an operating-wheel exterior to the gong and movable with the tiltable support, and means for moving the support to provide for simultaneously swinging the gong outward away from the wheel of the vehicle, and the operating-wheel inward against the latter.

3. In a bell of the class described, the combination of a suitable support, an upright gong suspended at its crown from said support and adapted to hang in an upright posit-ion alongside of the vehicle-wheel, a striker working within the gong and carrying an exterior operating-wheel located above the gong and movable with the tiltable support, and means for causing the gong to swing outward away from the vehicle-wheel and'simultaneously carrying the operating-wheel inward against the vehicle-wheel.

4:. In a bell of the class described, a support, a tiltable bracket pivoted to said support upon an approximately horizontal axis, an upright gong suspended at its crown from said support, and a rotatable striker working within the gong and carrying an exterior operating-wheel located above the gong and. movable with the tilt-able bracket, the axis of the striker and the pivotal axis of the bracket being disposed at substantially right angles, whereby the gong may swing outward away from the vehicle-wheel simultaneously with the movement of the operating-wheel inward against the latter.

5. In a bell of the class described, a forkclip, a normally upright spring-returned tiltable bracket pivotally connected with said clip, and provided with upper and lower bracket-arms,complementarygongs arranged mouth to mouth, and respectively fitted to the separate bracket-arms, and a striking device comprising an operating shaft carrying an exterior wheel and an interior U shaped striker, having its separate members working respectively in the separate gongs.

6. In a bell, the combination with a suitable support, of a pair .of complementary gongs arranged mouth to mouth and carried by said support, and a rotatable centrifugal striking device having separate members working respectively in the separate gongs,

said centrifugal striking device being carriedentirely by one of the gongs and having an exterior operating-wheel.

In testimony whereof I affix my signature in presence of two witnesses.

DAVID I. WOLHAUPTER.

Witnesses:

ROBERT W. F. OGILVIE, WILLIAM WALLACE DEANE. 

